Matthew’s Story

Site created on January 22, 2020

On Saturday evening, January 18, 2020, Matthew was involved in a severe motorcycle accident near Walnut Creek, California. He lost control and hit a guardrail on the highway. He lost 3 liters of blood and has multiple injuries, including a break in his left arm, a broken rib and a broken vertebra in his neck. The surgeons do not know if he will be able to use his arm again (he is left-handed) and whether amputation will be necessary. They also do not know the extent of the neck injury and brain trauma, but the initial brain scan was positive. He had two initial surgeries as soon as he was brought in and then on Sunday had a blood clot removal surgery in his left arm. Blood flow and a pulse returned to his arm. Todd, Jonathan, and Elizabeth are staying with him (taking turns to sleep) in the ICU.  His fourth surgery, on Monday afternoon, relieved the pressure in his hand and brought the blood flow back, after losing the pulse again for several hours, to the tissue which was within hours of dying. They then did a procedure to install a wound VAC (vacuum-assisted closure) on his left arm so that his open wounds were sealed and would be automatically flushed.  The broken rib should heal on its own. He is still in a collar because of the fractured vertebra. They will attempt an MRI again to assess the damage to his neck. There is still the question of whether his arm can be saved. However, much wisdom is needed regarding potential future surgery for nerve reimplementation since he has no feeling or movement in his left arm. We need wisdom and open doors for potentially moving him to a specialty clinic for nerve repair after he is stable. He is heavily sedated, as it is a very complicated dance with all the medications and wounds and other issues, and is not able to speak due to being on a ventilator (breathing tube down his throat) and so we are not able to communicate with him very well. The goal is for him to rest. They need to continue to closely monitor his blood pressure and blood counts as well as other vitals, including the effect so far on his kidneys.  He will undergo his fifth surgery Friday morning to reconnect the break in his humerus bone which is completely disconnected and moved up. Pray no ligaments would be damaged during this operation.  We are grateful for all the prayers, kind messages, and the donations to Matthew's GoFundMe account. If you would like to help, please go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/matthew-price (https://www.gofundme.com/f/matthew-price?fbclid=IwAR0_v45J5tlIUqAIQfcXsnX0v9bF3oq94x3AF5J5ocKy2tr5ASbjDtqq980). We will continue to update this Caring Bridge page as things progress.  Gratefully, The Price Family

Newest Update

Journal entry by Todd Price

Three years ago today is when Matthew (now 24) had his motorcycle accident. We praise God for sparing his life and giving him and us grace to endure 46 days in the hospital and 12 surgeries. We are grateful for how far he has come! He is living in Decatur, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta), renting a house with an MK friend from his childhood in Bosnia, working in his chosen field (as an app and web page user experience designer, for Equifax), able to drive, travel and even practice jujitsu.

The nerve transfer surgeries he had two and a half years ago seem to have been successful! When he was with us in Kansas City over Christmas break, he visited our local chiropractor who was ecstatic to see Matthew’s progress and that now he can lift and roll his left shoulder to some degree. This is the side that was paralyzed from the accident.

In this picture, you can see that he has his prosthetic for which we are grateful. It is still a bit cumbersome and unwieldy to use, so please pray for him to learn to use it better, and to eventually get an improved prosthetic with more electronic features to enable him to lift the arm, bend the elbow, have a more pressure-sensitive hook, and eventually a hand in place of the hook. Thank you for your prayers!

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